MOSCOW — Police prevented protesters organized by a radical leftist leader from gathering in central Moscow on New Year's Eve, as a year that brought dramatic and unexpected change to Russia drew to a close.

About 200 people converged on Triumfalnaya Square in the early evening darkness, perhaps half of them journalists, for a rally organized by Eduard Limonov in support of freedom of assembly.

Limonov, founder of the National Bolshevik Party, was detained on the street before he even got to the square, and police said about 60 protesters were arrested because the gathering did not have a permit. They said, however, that all would be released before midnight.

The protest differed from two rallies earlier in the month, when tens of thousands gathered in Moscow and throughout the country to demand fair elections. Saturday's protest, called Strategy 31 after the article of the constitution that guarantees freedom of assembly, has been going on for two years, held the last day of every month with that many days.

A year ago, on Dec. 31, 2010, Limonov was arrested as he left his apartment, and a former deputy prime minister named Boris Nemtsov was arrested as he left the Triumfalnaya rally and was sentenced to 15 days in jail. Nemtsov, who was at the forefront of huge protests last month, was not seen at the rally Saturday.

New Year's Eve is the biggest holiday of the year in Russia, and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin took the opportunity to deliver a celebratory message, replete with his trademark tough-guy coarseness.

He sent good wishes to all the citizens of Russia, including those along the entire political spectrum, but phrased it in Russian with sexual innuendo that lent his words a derogatory note, referring to "leftist forces and those situated on the right, below, above, however you like." He also shrugged off the protests as so much political noise and nothing unusual.

"Of course, we are in the middle of a political cycle — the parliamentary elections have finished and the presidential elections are going to start," Putin said. "In such times, politicians always exploit the feelings of citizens, everything gets shaken around a bit, boils up. But this is the unavoidable price of democracy."

RIVERVIEW — A woman and young girl were fatally shot, and a young boy was critically wounded in an apparent domestic dispute early Monday morning.Deputies are questioning a man who was found running through the house toward the garage. Deputies say t...

The Bucs continue to sign free agents at positions of need and stand to benefit at the draft from a trade in the NFL, Rick Stroud says in his latest podcast.Also, the Lightning loses a measuring-stick game to Boston, March Madness has been absolutely...

TAMPA — A company controlled by the Jeff Vinik-Cascade Investment partnership is poised to gain control of another 3.4 waterfront acres just west of Channelside Bay Plaza for its massive Water Street Tampa redevelopment project.The land is owned by P...

The Rays are heading into the final days of spring training facing a series of roster decisions and an inconvenient schedule.That includes back-to-back road night games, in Tampa against the Yankees at 6:35 tonight (with Blake Snell starting) and in ...

TAMPA — A fatal motorcycle crash has closed all southbound lanes of Interstate 275 near the Bearss Avenue exit. All traffic has been diverted off at the exit, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.The police arrived on the scene around 8:15 a.m., F...

JACKSONVILLE — A Jacksonville man is close to losing his vision, but before it’s gone he wanted to see the beach one last time with his wife. Woody Parker, who is suffering from glaucoma, wanted to catch perhaps his final glimpse of Fernandina Beach,...

TAMPA — On the day of his fatal fall during a show in Tampa, a Cirque du Soleil acrobat posted on Instagram that he would be performing a new act for the first time.
"After so much work and training and staging, our straps duo act is finally i...

Cream cheeses come in many flavors, but our judges were most interested in texture when they began to compare 10 different brands. We tried the cheese spreads alone and with bagels to test spreadability. Our sample included only plain cream cheeses a...

WASHINGTON — U.S. and British lawmakers have demanded that Facebook explain how a political data firm with links to President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign was able to harvest private information from more than 50 million Facebook profiles without the...